Harrison Lodewyk (middle) was traded to the Calgary Hitmen, while Tyrone Sobry (left) and Steele Bass (right) were reassigned to SJHL teams. (Mark Peterson/Prince Albert Raiders)

By Nick Nielsen

20-year-old situation solved

Raiders trade Lodewyk, reassign Sobry and Bass to Jr. A

Oct 2, 2025 | 2:07 PM

With the return of Justice Christensen earlier this week, the Prince Albert Raiders had four 20-year-olds on the roster and just one week to cut them down to three.

As a result, the Raiders have traded 20-year-old forward Harrison Lodewyk to the Calgary Hitmen in exchange for a third-round draft pick in 2027 and a fifth-round pick in 2028.

Originally from Red Deer, Lodewyk was drafted 37th overall in the second round of the 2020 draft. He debuted with the team in 2021-22 as a 16-year-old and appeared in 55 games that season. In total, Lodewyk played 233 games in the regular season with the Raiders.

“These are where your hand gets forced,” said Raiders General Manager Curtis Hunt. “You’ve got a Raider through and through, and I’ve known Harrison since he was 15. You get to know his family. He’s been part of building our culture, but we only get three. So when we go through it a little bit and talk back and forth, we thought maybe this is the best deal for him, but also the best deal for us at this particular time.”

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Trading away a 20-year-old was inevitable this year as the Raiders anticipated the return of Christensen from Detroit Red Wings camp. That meant it would either be Lodewyk, Aiden Oiring, or Brayden Dube, all three of whom are long-time Raiders. Oiring and Dube lead the team with 3G-2A each, while Lodewyk is right behind them with 1G-3A, but Hunt said it isn’t just about how they started the season that went into the final decision.

“It was never an easy decision, regardless of the points, because this game is made up of a lot of intangibles. They’re different players, all three of them, even positionally. We could argue that Harrison was playing left wing this season, probably more than center. I think it’s part of when you look at your group, who could fill what role at what time? And then of course, what is the market asking for? So there’s that combination, and that’s kind of how we came to our decision.”

There was also the timing of the trade that needed to be considered. The Raiders needed to cut down to three 20-year-olds by October 10, next Friday. Between the Lodewyk trade and that October 10 deadline, the Raiders have one single game at home.

That means if the Raiders didn’t make a move before the deadline, that would create another tough decision on which player to sit during this coming Saturday against the Red Deer Rebels, and that wouldn’t be fair to any of the 20-year-olds involved.

“I don’t really relish the fact of having to sit a 20-year-old guy, whether it was any one of the four. We had a quick meeting, all four of them, and that was the elephant in the room. To their credit, they were, ‘you know what, the sooner the better’. Is it beneficial to wait? I guess you could argue that anyway, but this was an opportunity we had, certainly now midweek he can join his new club, have a couple days practice before they play Saturday and Sunday this weekend, and for us we got a couple days to… well let’s face it, it’s a wound because the players lose a friend and someone they’ve bled with and someone that they’ve competed with and basically grown up with.”

Sobry, Bass reassigned

Aside from the Lodewyk trade, the Raiders also reassigned two players to Sask. Junior Hockey League (SJHL) teams in 19-year-old defenceman Tyrone Sobry to the Humboldt Broncos, and 17-year-old goaltender Steele Bass to the Battlefords North Stars.

Starting with Sobry, the 19-year-old defenceman has spent the last two seasons with the Raiders as a defenceman fighting to be in the 5-7 spot on the depth chart. During the offseason, Sobry made some great strides and looked poised to take a bigger role with the team this season.

With the return of Christensen, Matyas returning from illness, and some of the young players stepping up out of camp in a way the Raiders staff didn’t initially expect, Hunt felt it was important to put Sobry in a place where he got the playing time he deserved.

“We’re in a scenario now with the way our younger players have played, Kelly and Cripps and even Clarke, with the return of Man from illness and now Justice. As a 19-year-old defenseman, I don’t know if it’s fair for him to try to eke out his minutes. Every player wants to play, and I was very appreciative for [Tyrone]. He’s hung in there. He had a good summer, and he worked hard. He easily, after last year missing some time, he could have walked away, and he didn’t. He showed some tremendous character. So I am excited for him because he’s going to get some big minutes. He’s going to be a lean on guy for Humboldt, and he’s another guy that’s close to watch that we can get down there and keep eyes on.”

For Bass, the 17-year-old goaltender played one game for the Raiders this year, where he helped them win 6-4 over the Regina Pats. Last year, Bass had the second most games played in the Alberta Elite Hockey League (AEHL) with 24, the most wins with 15, and the third best save percentage in the league at 0.923.

The move to the North Stars lets the Raiders keep a more manageable two-goaltender rotation, but also allows Bass to get some starts at the Junior A level that will help prepare him for a future with the Raiders.

“We knew Fortin was going to come in and compete hard for that spot, certainly with how Orsulak’s played is a pleasant surprise, and we know Steele had a great summer and put in a lot of work, and those three guys were, I thought, the cream coming out of camp. In the end, the lack of games to rotate three doesn’t make a lot of sense. So right now, the best decision was, let’s get Steele some place where he’s going to have an opportunity to play and maybe even have an opportunity to win the starting job. We’re excited about that. He’s two hours down the road. We can access him at any time, plus we can get our goalie coach out there to work with him and follow him, and we get to watch him play.”

With the roster moves now, the Raiders are down to 14 forwards, seven defencemen, and two goalies for a total of 23 players on the roster. There are two Raiders yet to make their season debuts: Alisher Sarkenov, who joined the Raiders earlier this week from Kazakhstan, and Ethan Bibeau, who has missed the first four games of the season with an upper body injury.

The Raiders kick off a six-game homestand on October 4 against the Red Deer Rebels.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com